Smile For The Camera!
by Singing Fire
Summary: It's the first Halloween since the Battle of Mount Olympus, and Leo decides its a great time for everyone to get together and go trick-or-treating. Percy runs into some guys from Goode and tempers clash, crimes are committed, and of course, Leo brought a camera for the entire night of goofy costumes. One shot. Short appearance by Nico!


**Alright, so, Blood of Olympus is coming out in some so months, and I've been having a freak attack, mulling over the prophecy and praying to the gods to not let my heroes die! Since there's no response on that end, I decided to write something funny and loveable to sooth my nerves.**

**This was what happened. Sorry if it seems out of season, but I was in the mood, and the book does come out in October, which does have Halloween at the end of the month.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own PJO or HOO**

**JASON POV**

"I look stupid."

"I'm sure you look fine. Let me see."

"I'm going to _kill _Leo when he gets here."

He could almost hear Piper's eyes rolling from outside the bathroom, but the thought of his girlfriend seeing him like this was the most embarrassing thing he could imagine right now. He was not coming out.

"Come on Jason, you can't look that bad. At least, you can't look worse than me."

He pressed his forehead against the bathroom door. Seriously, he had faced down armies of monsters, gods, titans and giants, and he was afraid to let his girlfriend see him dressed like this.

Steeling his nerves, he slowly opened the door. It swung open and hit the wall, and he walked out.

"There. I look like an idiot."

The Superman costume Leo had gotten was ridiculous. The long red cape dragged on the floor, and the yellow and red S on his chest might as well shout to the world 'Look at stupid'. Even worse, the blue pants were really annoyingly itchy, and his red boots made him look like a girl.

He raised an eyebrow to Piper and spread his arms.

"Well?" he asked.

She bit her bottom lip, eyes looking him up and down. She was still dressed in her street clothes, ripped jeans and a jacket over a plain T-shirt. Her costume was still sitting in the plastic shopping bag at her feet. Jason didn't even know what it was, the second Piper had opened the bag, her face had gone red and she shut it and tied it up.

"Well, it could be worse. Annabeth said Percy called to say Frank's dressed up like a panda."

Jason honestly had no response to that.

"A…panda?" he asked, and Piper nodded, a smile stretching across her face.

"So be thankful Leo was merciful on you. Me, not so much." She scowled at the plastic bag and nudged the offending costume with her foot.

He walked over to his girlfriend and said "Come on Pipes, it can't be that bad."

The exact same thing she had said to him when he showed her the blue shirt and red cape.

She shoved him playfully and said "Alright, alright. But if I find out someone took a picture of me, you will be in _big _trouble."

Jason gave her a grin and said "Alright. No cameras around."

Scooping up the bag, she turned and shut the door, and he leaned back against the wall.

He looked down at his bright red boots and sighed. If Leo was still alive by the end of the night, Jason was going to talk to him about this whole _blonde superman _thing. He looked ridiculous.

After a few minutes, he glanced up at the door as it opened and his jaw nearly dropped.

Piper was dressed like a cat, black shirt and jeans and her hair back in a ponytail. She had black leather ankle boots and had whiskers drawn across her face. Cat ears poked out from on top of her head and Jason caught a glimpse of a tail before she blushed furiously and made to shut the door again.

"I look like an idiot." She groaned, and Jason grabbed the door before it could close.

"No way Pipes. You look awesome." He told her, feeling his face burning as he said the words. He was a little un-used to the whole dating thing, even after all this time. He was constantly worried he would mess up and Piper would think he was a loser or something. But it was working so far and Piper was the best girlfriend ever.

"Promise not to laugh?" she asked, and Jason grinned.

"You look great. Don't worry." He said.

She sighed and opened the door again, and immediately walked towards the dining room, leaving Jason to follow along.

Annabeth was in the dining room, already in costume and fiddling with her knife, a plate of steaming spaghetti sitting on the table in front of her. She had a red cape like his, but hers was shorter by half, and had a hood she had put up to cover her face. She wore a fancy looking white shirt and a red skirt that came to her knees and black shoes. An empty picnic basket sat at her feet, and she glanced up at them as they entered.

"Don't. Say. A word." She said, stabbing her knife into the table and sighed.

"I am going to kill Leo when he gets here." She said, tugging at her skirt. "I don't wear skirts."

Jason shrugged and Piper said "You can kill him after I'm through with him."

Annabeth grinned and asked "You got some catty remarks for him?"

Piper gave her a mock scowl and sat in a chair, crossing her arms. She shifted in her seat and sighed.

"This tail is going to be the most annoying thing ever." She grumbled, pulling it out and laying it across her lap.

Jason tried to move the cape so he wouldn't sit on it, so he just draped it across the back of his chair and looked towards Sally Jackson, carrying a tray of bread sticks covered in bubbling cheese. The smell was the best thing in the world.

Sally spotted his look and gave him a motherly smile.

"No eating until the rest get here. I don't want to have to make seconds." She teased, setting the plate down before turning to Annabeth.

"Has Percy called you from Camp Half Blood?" she asked.

Annabeth nodded and said "He called about ten minutes ago. He should be here soon. Traffic shouldn't be that bad. Well, as long as he doesn't have to stop Frank from strangling Leo along the way."

Sally just shook her head and said "Well, call me when he gets here."

She returned to the kitchen, shutting the door behind her.

Piper tugged on her tail and asked "Do you know what everyone else is dressed as?"

Annabeth smiled and said "All I know is that Frank apparently is the grumpiest panda bear Percy ever saw. No word on anyone else."

Piper sighed and said "I just don't want to feel like the biggest idiot out there."

Jason grinned "I think Frank's got a better argument for the title then you do Pipes."

Piper just stuck her tongue out at him and swatted his hand as he reached for a bread stick.

"No eating." She admonished. Jason shrugged. Couldn't blame a guy for trying. The bread sticks smelled amazing.

Suddenly, there was the sound of loud voices and arguing from in the hall. Jason glanced up to stare at the door, and there was a loud knocking.

"Annabeth, open up!" Percy called.

Annabeth got up and said "Seaweed Brain, I thought you brought the key with you?"

Percy sighed and said "Turns out I didn't bring the key with me. Can you open the door please? I think we need to separate Frank and Leo for the rest of the night."

Annabeth rolled her eyes, but opened the door, Piper and Jason following behind her.

The door opened and there was a bright flash of light, and Jason's demigod instinct kicked in. Was it monsters? Cyclopes could mimic voices, he knew that from firsthand experience. He gripped the gold dagger he had borrowed from the Camp Jupiter armory.

He heard the sound of laughter and a familiar voice saying "I am a brilliant picker of Halloween costumes."

Blinking spots from his eyes, he caught sight of Leo with a wide grin across his face, holding a disposable camera that appeared to be constructed from some spare parts- likely from somewhere around Bunker Nine. Leo marched in, the sound of jingling bells confusing until he spotted little bronze bells on the end of Leo's green hat and on the tips of his slippers.

Leo had gone full elf mode, with red pants and green shoes and shirt, and a pointy hat as well. He looked like he had just stepped out of the North Pole. He waved at Jason and caught Piper's scowl.

"Hey, don't look at me Beauty Queen. Just be thankful it wasn't a full cat suit." He shrugged and pointed his thumb back over his shoulder at who he assumed was Frank.

Percy had been telling the truth about Frank's panda costume. He was wearing a jump suit of black and white, with a giant panda head over his face. Through the grinning mouth, he caught a glimpse of Frank giving Leo death glares into his back, but if Leo noticed, he didn't give any indication.

"Percy!" Annabeth crossed her arms and scowled at Percy, who shrugged and grinned.

"Sorry Wise Girl. To be fair, Leo got a picture of all of us before we left, so you're not alone."

Percy was dressed as a cowboy, with a leather overcoat over a green plaid shirt and dusty brown boots and a silver gun at his side. He tipped the cowboy hat on his head and said "I don't think I look half bad."

Annabeth crossed her arms, clearly unamused.

"I can't believe you agreed with Leo on this." She said.

Percy smiled and said "Hey, it'll be fun. There's free candy and everything."

Annabeth turned back to the dining room, and Percy tagged along, throwing an arm over her shoulder.

"Come on Frank, just go inside." He heard Hazel's voice from somewhere behind Frank.

Leo grinned, camera mysteriously vanished and agreed. "Yeah Frank, where's your holiday spirit?"

Frank's voice was slightly muffled as he complained "I'd like to see your holiday spirit when you're wearing this stupid panda head."

"I told you, it doesn't look that bad." Hazel told him, and Frank shuffled inside, giving Jason his first clear look at Hazel.

She was dressed as an angel, with a battery powered light up halo over her head and plastic wings on her back, with a plain white dress that went down to her knees. She followed Frank inside, glancing around the apartment.

"Come on everyone, I have dinner ready." Sally called from the dining room. Jason took Piper's hand, tugging her along through the small crowd of demigods.

"Do you think Nico will meet up with us?" Hazel asked Frank as they entered the dining room and all sat down, Percy already loading his plate with spaghetti, Leo not far behind him.

"He'll come. Leo threatened to booby trap the Hades cabin if he didn't." Frank assured, pulling off his panda head and shaking his sweaty hair.

Jason sat down; already the table was overcrowded with people. Plates were passed around, elbows meeting ribs and faces as they reached for food before it all was gone. Jason grabbed a plate and a pile of spaghetti, the food still warm and smelling great.

"C'mon Leo, put the camera down." Sally held out a hand expectantly for the camera, just as Leo had pulled it out to snap pictures. Leo sighed, but handed the camera over to Sally.

"Sorry Mrs. Blofis." He said, grabbing his fork and started shovelling spaghetti and sauce into his mouth.

"Call me Sally." She said, smiling and placed the camera in her apron pocket.

"Anyone want water?" she asked, and a chorus of 'No thank you' and 'that's alright' echoed back to her.

"Well, if anyone changes their mind, I'll be in the kitchen." She said, mussing up Percy's hair and left for the kitchen.

There was silence around the table except for the sound of chewing and eating. The spaghetti tasted great, almost better than the nymphs back at Camp Jupiter cooked.

Leo seemed to agree.

"Perce, you should get you mom to cook for Camp Half Blood. This is awesome!" how Leo got that sentence out with his mouth packed with food, Jason had no idea and didn't want to find out.

Percy grinned and said "I've been trying to convince her for years."

Annabeth rolled her eyes and smacked the back of Percy's head. "Mouth closed when you eat Seaweed Brain."

Percy didn't say anything in response, chewing obviously and swallowing before finally saying "Yes Wise Girl."

Almost faster than Jason could watch, the spaghetti and sauce was clearing, and nothing left of the bread sticks but a few crumbs on the tray. Frank leaned back, patting his stomach.

"I don't think I can eat any candy tonight. I'm full." He said.

Leo shook his head and said "Never say never. As soon as the candy starts coming, you'll be able to stuff your face again."

Frank leaned back a little too far in his chair, as it tipped back and crashed to the ground, and Frank was on his back, stunned.

There was three seconds of silence before Hazel giggled. That started a flood of laughter, and Jason should have been a little worried about Leo having a heart attack, he was laughing so much. But Jason was laughing as well, and couldn't bring himself to worry. Frank had turned beet read and clambered up, putting his panda head back on to hide his face as Hazel, through giggles, tried to apologize for laughing.

"It's alright. No harm." Frank said, as Jason regained his breath and everyone began to quiet down.

Sally had run back in as Frank had fallen from his chair, and after seeing everyone was alright and alive, she said "There are pillow cases in the closets for you guys. Percy, if you could grab those."

Percy stood and said "Sure mom."

"Remember, your home by twelve o'clock at most." She called over her shoulder as she cleared the plates from the table.

"Thank you for letting us stay for dinner Mrs. Blofis." Jason said, and Piper echoed his thanks.

Sally smiled again at him and said "It's quite alright Jason; you can come over whenever you're in New York."

Jason felt himself smiling back at Sally, the warm, motherliness about her something Jason was unused to. He hadn't known his mother, and according to Thalia, she hadn't been a very good mother in the first place.

Percy was pretty lucky, having a mother like this.

Jason nodded as Sally took the rest of the dishes and carried them to the kitchen, smiling at them all over her shoulder.

Percy came back with an armful of pillowcases, and started chucking them at everyone around the table. Leo, unfortunately, got the baby blue one covered in smiling stars.

"That was mine when I was four. Don't ruin it." Percy smirked at Leo before handing out the rest of the pillowcases, thankful all plain normal colors.

"Alright, let's head out. Before all the candy's gone." Piper said, taking Jason's hand and following Leo, who was leading the party downstairs to street level.

"Um…maybe I should stay behind, help Mrs. Blofis with dishes." Frank said, edging away from the door. Hazel took his hand and started tugging him towards the door.

"Come on Frank, no one knows you out there anyway. It'll be fun." She said. Percy helped tug him out the doorway and to the elevator, where everyone else stood waiting.

"Come on Frank, the whole group's here." Piper said "nothing to be ashamed of."

"You can turn into a real panda bear, but you can't dress up as one for a little fun?" Percy asked in a teasing voice, nudging Frank's shoulder.

Jason knew Frank was blushing under the panda head, and he sighed.

"I am not taking this thing off until we're back at Camp Half Blood." Frank added in a grumble, and Leo shook his hand.

"Deal. Now everyone get together. Its picture time."

Leo stood at the front, holding his homemade camera up in the air so everyone could be seen. Jason felt himself grinning despite himself, maybe tonight would be fun.

The bright flash blinded him for a minute, and he had to blink his eyes a couple times before his vision cleared.

"Couldn't you have fixed the flash before we left?" Frank asked, rubbing where his eyes were, though it was actually the panda's mouth, which looked a little odd.

"Well, someone dragged me out of the bunker before I could fix it, and I left my tool belt at the bunker." Leo pointedly looked at Percy, who just rolled his eyes.

"Could have told me that before we left." He said.

Leo rolled his eyes. "Like Frank gave me a chance to speak, with him talking all the way here about his costume."

"I wouldn't have to if…"

"Enough!" Piper called over the arguing, cutting through everyone else's words.

"Remember, fun." She said.

Annabeth nodded and said "Right Percy? Fun?"

Percy shook his head and smirked as he said "It isn't about the fun. It's about the candy."

Annabeth rolled her eyes.

The elevator dinged and they were in the lobby. The doorman didn't even give them weird looks as they passed, probably used to the Halloween parade of kids coming down that evening.

The streets were packed with groups of kids mulling around, trading off candy, trying to steal from other people and knocking on doors around the streets.

It was total chaos, the likes Jason had only ever seen like in Camp Half Blood during Capture the Flag.

Percy grinned widely and said "Alright, which house do we hit first?"

Annabeth pointed to a little grocery store across the street, where a couple little kids about eight and seven were coming out carrying massive chocolate bars.

He would have sworn Leo started drooling.

"Yeah, let's hit there first." He said. He led the group across the street, through the sea of kids flooding the road.

"Hey, watch it Super dork."

A little boy about twelve glared up at him, wearing an eye patch and a black and white striped shirt, a stuffed parrot on his shoulder.

"Sorry kid." He said, and would have turned had the kid not stepped on his cape.

"You almost stepped on me!" the kid cried out indignantly, and sneered at him. "What kind of costume is that? Aren't you a little old for trick-or-treating?"

Jason frowned at the kid. Rude little kid wouldn't last a minute outside his mortal world.

He pulled his cape out from under the kid's foot and said "Look kid, just go back to your trick-or-treating. It's no big deal."

The kid gave him an up and down, as if wondering if he should kick him. Jason was trained to fight, but he didn't think it would be a good idea to start hitting a twelve year old in the middle of the street.

The kid sniffed, as if superior to Jason, and strutted off back to a small group of boys, all dressed as pirates.

Jason rolled his eyes. Mortals.

"C'mon Jason." Leo called out, and Jason weaved through the crowd to catch up. A middle aged woman was standing outside the store, holding a plastic pumpkin bowl filled with super-sized chocolate bars. Leo held open his pillowcase and chanted "Trick-or-treat."

The woman smiled and instead of just dropping the candy in Leo's bag, handed it to him nicely and said "It isn't often we get elves around here."

Leo grinned and said "I'm a special boy."

Piper leaned forward and whispered in his ear "A _real _special kind."

Jason smirked and pulled an arm over Piper's shoulders, a quick side hug.

The woman smiled at them all and said "Aren't you all just a creative bunch. And aren't you just a sweet looking young girl."

She smiled at Hazel, who blushed and muttered a quiet thank-you to the woman.

"Well, here's some chocolate for you all. Don't take the whole bowl now, just one each. Excuse me elf boy, but you already have candy."

Leo pulled his hand back from sneaking another bar and Frank laughed behind his panda head.

"Thank you." Jason said as the woman handed him the chocolate, and the woman beamed.

"Thank you for coming over. Have a happy Halloween." She chatted, waving them good bye.

Leo grinned and held up his chocolate bar as if it was a gold bar.

"We should just switch costumes and go back for more."

Frank shook his head and said "They're almost bigger than Leo."

Leo was actually shorter than the rest of the guys, and shorter than Annabeth as well. Leo gave Frank a mock scowl and said "Hardy har Mister Cuddles."

Jason grinned as Frank and Leo bickered back and forth as they went to the next store nearby, this time handing out apples and pears.

The younger couple who was handing out the fruit was smiling and waving, calling out to the kids "Have a healthy Halloween."

Before they could cross the street again, the couple spotted them and the woman called over "Hey kids, you guys want to have a healthy Halloween?"

They all felt rude turning down the couple, so they took the fruit with good grace, but Leo dropped the act as soon as they were out of earshot.

"Who hands out fruit on Halloween? It's a candy holiday, don't they see that?"

Percy shrugged. "They've handed out fruit since I was a kid. They're a bit health freakish, so I guess they don't think of handing out candy. They aren't bad people."

Leo shrugged and wiped his apple on his shirt before dropping it in his bag and reached for the monster chocolate bar.

"Whatever. I'm helping myself to some good old fashioned tooth rotting, chocolaty goodness."

Much to Leo's indignation, the chocolate bar was swiped from his hand before he even ripped open the package.

The two jocks standing in front of them, one with surfer long blonde hair, the other with spikey red hair and Leo's candy, laughed and asked "Aren't you guys a little old for this kids' stuff?"

Leo didn't seem to care about that fact.

"Hey, Gorilla Boy. That's mine, got get your own." He said, reaching to swipe the candy from the red head's hand before he could notice. The kid saw Leo move though, and pulled the bar out of Leo's reach.

"Uh uh uh." The red head said, shaky his head and cast his eyes over the group.

"You guys are just a bunch of losers. Who dresses up for a kids' holiday anyway?" surfer boy asked.

The red head guy was making eyes at Piper, and Jason wrapped his arm around her shoulders and gave him his wolf glare. He hadn't used it in years, but it seemed it still worked, judging from the way he backed off slightly.

"Who decided you guys could steal from people and be jerks?" Percy asked, stepping forward.

The surfer guy's jaw dropped and he looked like someone smacked him between the eyes with a shovel. The red head, the one who possibly had a few more brain cells then the blonde, asked stunned "Jackson?"

Percy scowled at them and said "Give my friend's stuff back to him and leave."

The red head passed the chocolate bar back to Leo, when surfer boy regained control over his brain. He closed his mouth and sneered "What are you doing hanging out with a bunch of losers Jackson? C'mon, there are some kids a couple streets over. They've got lots of junk on them."

Percy crossed his arms and said "These are my friends. They aren't _losers_. And you guys can just go back home and leave those little kids alone. They didn't do anything to you."

Surfer boy snorted and said "Whatever Jackson. Turns out you're the same loser as in freshman year. C'mon, let's leave the kids to play dress up."

The teens left, crossing the street before disappearing from sight in the sea of people.

Annabeth turned on Percy immediately.

"Who were those meatheads?"

Percy glanced back at where they last saw the two teens before answering "Mike and Riley, they're on the swim team with me at Goode. Just a couple of jerks."

Piper rolled her eyes and shivered "That red headed guy-Mike- was giving me the creeps. Weirdo."

Jason nodded, totally prepared to knock the guy's head in if he got close to Piper again.

Leo suddenly grinned and pocketed the candy.

"Come on you guys, let's keep going. We are _not _stopping at only two places. I worked hard on finding and picking out these costumes; I am not having them go to waste."

Leo started marching ahead, and Jason looked around one more time for the two jerks before following Leo, leading Piper along.

* * *

Four hours of trick-or-treating later, and after Leo managing to fit an entire caramel apple in his mouth at once, Percy's fake gun-which turned out could make realistic gun sounds- going off and bringing cops down on the place, Frank losing his head at a park bench and them having to go back and get it, Percy attracting the attention some brunette dressed as a really naughty nurse and being scared off by Annabeth's Evil Red Riding hood impression, and Hazel saving a cat stuck in a tree after it had chased a squirrel, everyone's' bags of candy were full and Piper was having to drag hers along on the ground.

"You think we should head back to the apartment now? Everyone is stopping for the night." Jason said, as houses still handing out candy became fewer and farer in-between. Hazel glanced around and nodded "Yeah. It's too late to drive back to Camp, so, can we camp at your house Percy?"

Percy shrugged. "It's fine by me. Don't know what my mom will say about it."

Annabeth took Percy's hand. "She'll be fine with it, as long as we don't break anything."

Jason couldn't imagine having a mom that was _that _understanding.

They had crossed back to the apartment building when Jason heard the sound of tinkling glass. He glanced around, hand already reaching for the dagger he kept behind him in the hidden sheath. He narrowed his eyes. Something was wrong.

Obviously, Piper felt the same. She had drawn her dagger from her sheath and glanced at the grocery across the street.

"You guys heard that, right?" he asked. Piper nodded, but Leo looked confused, and everyone else had gone ahead, but stopped when they noticed they had stopped following.

"What's wrong?" Hazel asked. The sound of glass crunching underfoot brought Jason's attention back to the grocery. He saw two shadows in the store window, neither looked like the middle aged woman who owned the place.

"I think someone's robbing the store across the street." Jason said, glancing back at everyone. Percy frowned and glanced at the window, and Jason caught a flash of red hair.

Of course. Those two idiots from earlier, Mike and Riley.

Obviously, they hadn't found any kids to rob of their candy, so they had turned to bigger prey.

"Should we stop them?" Frank asked. Hazel glanced at the store and said "Well, the lady who ran the store was sweet, and those guys are real jerks."

Annabeth nodded and said "Seems almost like poetic justice."

Percy sighed and shook his head.

"Just spook them or something. They're still mortals, even if they are jerks."

Jason was already moving forward, anger bubbling in his veins. These guys probably had a good home with two parents and a normal life, and they were just abusing it when their lives could be so much worse.

They could be demigods, after all.

He reached for the door knob when the door swung open, the lock picked and left alone. Obviously, these guys didn't expect anyone to come after them while they were robbing someone's store.

Jason stepped inside, keeping his breathing low and steps as quiet as possible. Rows of vegetables and fruit sat in baskets in rows, a line of freezers storing milk and frozen meat sat in the back, in the left corner, a wooden door that was half open, and voices could be heard drifting into the main area.

Jason glanced back at the others and gave a single nod in the direction of the back room.

_They're in there._

Frank still had his panda head on, which, for some reason, just seemed hilarious for the seriousness of the moment. He probably looked like a total idiot, dressed like Superman and about to stop two guys from robbing a place. Percy slowly drew his silver gun miming pulling the trigger. The sound of a gunshot would distract Riley and Mike, but it would also bring attention from the neighbours and probably bring the cops down on the place. He waved his hand.

_Maybe as backup_.

Annabeth crept forward, red hood pulled down and face set, ready to beat on these two guys, when Jason spotted a glint of something metallic behind her, in the corner by the ceiling.

Oh Pluto.

He caught Hazel's attention and pointed at the security cameras, which were capturing their every move and probably was going to portray them in a very bad light. Hazel nodded and Jason knew she would take care of it.

She would probably use the Mist to distort their faces, or something like that.

With one worry being taken care of, Jason strolled forward and pushed the door open the rest of the way.

Riley was standing with his back to the door, casting a shadow over a kneeling Mike, who had one ear pressed against a safe as he tried to pick the lock, obviously failing from the string of curses.

"Hey." He said, as if just greeting them on the street.

Riley spun around and nearly knocked himself over, just as Mike sprung to his feet and nearly tripped on Riley's leg that had come out to try and regain his balance.

After a moment of confusion, Riley seemed to recognize him.

"Hey…" he said, frowning at him. "You're that kid from earlier, that one with Jackson and his group of losers."

Mike snorted and asked "What, you trying to be a hero little boy? Trying to be like Superman?"

Jason didn't say anything in response for a moment, just taking in the sight of these two mortal boys trying to act tough. They didn't know him, and that was their mistake.

"You know," he said "You didn't have to do this. Stealing, it's not going to get you anywhere but a jail cell in the future, ruin your lives."

Riley snorted and asked "What are our lives to you kid? You're just some dumb little kid. You think you can beat us?"

Jason shrugged. "I don't have to."

Riley ran at him first, right arm coming around for a sucker punch aimed right at his jaw. Jason stepped to the side, letting Riley run past him and into the main store area, and stepped back in front of the doorway, cutting off Mike's only escape.

"You think your tough kid?" Mike asked, going for a punch to his face, same tactic as Riley. Seemed high school boys all had the same fighting strategy. Offense is the best defense.

Jason moved his head out of the way of Mike's fist, grabbed his wrist and twisted it, sending Mike to his knees as the pain probably shot through him like a hot iron bar in his arm. Mike cried out, and Jason released his wrist, Mike bringing it close to his chest.

Jeez, there were ten year olds at Camp Half Blood that could have stood up to that maneuver longer then this guy.

Mike growled, and charged at Jason again, leading with his right fist. Jason ducked the blow, but it turned out Mike was left handed to start with. His left fist knocked Jason off balance and onto the floor, but he rolled to the right as Mike's foot came to smash down on the floor right where his head had been seconds before.

Jason frowned. That was a dirty move, even for an Ares kid and they weren't usually bothered by dirty moves. Alright, if this guy wanted to play dirty.

Jason swung out with his right fist, catching Mike in the cheekbone, then jabbed him in the face with his left fist, and Mike was down. A thin stream of blood trickled out of his nose, and it didn't look broken. Jason had held back as much as he could while still hurting the guy without breaking his nose, but this guy acted like he had just taken a shovel to his face.

"You're a freak." Mike said, pushing past Jason and running for the exit, plowing out the door and running down the street.

Riley called out after him, trapped in a headlock from Annabeth, with a bruise forming across his cheekbone and above his eyebrow.

"You won't do anything like this again, will you?" Annabeth asked. Riley nodded his head as much as he could in his headlock. Annabeth sighed and released her grip, and Riley fell to the floor with the unexpected release. He didn't take long to react though, scrambling back and pointing at Leo.

"That guy….-he's INSANE!" Riley shouted, crab walking backwards out of the door and made it to his feet before taking after Mike.

Leo brushed off his elf hat and said "Insanely awesome, was what he meant."

Jason rolled his eyes and asked "What did you do the poor guy."

Piper smirked and said "Repair Boy decided to do pull a fire trick on the guy. I think Riley thought Leo had a match and was going to light his head on fire. That's what I got from his shouts."

Hazel lowered her raised hand, pointed at another security camera in the store.

"There. They won't know it was us, but they will be able to see Riley and Mike's face quiet clearly in the video footage." Frank wrapped an arm around her shoulders and said "You did a good job."

Hazel blushed and grabbed onto the hand Frank had around her shoulder.

Percy leaned back against the counter and said "So, we lock the place back up, write the storeowner a note explaining what happened, and head back to my apartment. I think there are a couple horror movies on soon, and my mom can make blue popcorn."

Piper glanced at Percy and said "Remove the blue from the popcorn and I'm in."

Percy mock scowled at her. "Hey! The blue's the best part of the popcorn."

Annabeth rolled her eyes and Leo said "Hey, as long as I get to binge on my candy, I'm good with whatever color the popcorn is."

Jason shook his head. Honestly, sometimes he didn't get Leo. And he was pretty sure Leo didn't get himself either.

"Sounds good to me. I'll lock the back door." Jason said, and he heard Piper smack Leo's hand.

"No way are you writing the note. I'll do it."

Jason smiled. He had the best girlfriend ever.

* * *

Twenty minutes later, everyone was camped out in the living room, Annabeth and Percy together on the couch holding the blue bowl full of (naturally) blue popcorn. Frank and Hazel were sitting on the other half of the couch, and Frank was explaining the TV to her and how it showed the TV without a projector. He was pretty sure Hazel understood that, but he wasn't about to interrupt.

He sat on the floor in front of the couch, Leo sitting between him and Piper as he snacked on his candy, and occasionally grabbed a piece from Piper's bag when she wasn't looking. The black and white Frankenstein movie was grainy and flickered sometimes, but Jason was alright with it.

Suddenly, the shadows behind the TV gathered together and Nico was spit out like a piece of gum.

"Nico!" Hazel smiled at her brother before she realized what he was wearing.

His clothes were rainbow striped overalls with happy faced buttons, and a white shirt covered in colorful polka dots. Nico's pale face and dark eyes were scowling heavily underneath his rainbow wig.

There was silence across the living before Leo snickered and said "What happened Nico?" in an mock innocent voice.

Nico scowled at Leo and said "You stole all my clothes, and all my money, and threatened to spray paint the Hades Cabin like the Iris cabin unless I wore this stupid thing. You. Are. SO. DEAD!"

Everyone else had started laughing, and Jason would admit he had laughed as well. Nico just looked so sunshine and happy, like a little toddler except for his red flushed face that was screaming bloody murder. The shadows twisted and writhed, tormented by Nico's anger. Leo snickered again and pulled out his disposable camera and snapped a picture.

Nico's face paled before he launched forward, hands reached for the camera. Leo was outright laughing again, pushing Nico away and keeping the camera well out of reach of Nico.

"Calm down Nico, just take a look at Frank." Hazel said, giggling and gesturing to her boyfriend. Frank flushed bright red and said "I went out in public like this. Trust me, there are worse ways to go."

Nico flashed Leo another death glare, a silent promise that he _was _going to get his revenge, then grabbed the remote, changing the channel to the news.

"You guys appear to have made the news." He said, studiously ignoring Leo behind him.

The video footage of them in the store had blurry faces, and their features looked like they had been put through a blender and used as finger paint by a two year old.

_"__It appears that a band of trick-or-treaters had interrupted this robbery in progress of a small grocery store in the Manhattan area. The thieves have been apprehended by the police and there are charges pending."_

The face returned to the female newscaster as she continued her report _"__a note was left by the unknown teens, apologizing to the store owner, Matilda Harmons, and thanking her for the candy she had handed out to them earlier. Mrs. Harmons would like to extend a thank you to the young heroes, and a hopes that they enjoyed the chocolate bars she had given them."_

Nico changed the channel back to Frankenstein and crossed his arms, looking very serious for a clown.

"Chiron saw that this evening. He wants to know what happened out there, and why you didn't listen to his explicit instructions to keep out of mortals' attentions."

Percy glanced at Annabeth and said "Well, we're sleeping right now, so we can't give an answer until at least noon tomorrow, since we had a late night."

Jason grinned, knowing that they never would have gotten away with something like this at Camp Jupiter. Of course, they wouldn't have been trick-or-treating in the first place after all.

Nico nodded, catching on and glared at Leo one last time.

"Delete the picture." He stated finally before sinking into the shadows again. There was no need to expand on what would happen to Leo if he didn't.

Leo gave a nervous grin and straightened his elf hat.

"Hazel, you sure your related to that guy?" he asked. Hazel blushed and said "You shouldn't have done that to Nico though. Everyone else agreed to dress up- eventually."

Leo shrugged "too late to do anything about that now. I think I might actually start taking to sleeping in the Bunker from now one actually. You never know what could happen in a cabin."

Piper grinned at Jason and gently pushed Leo aside.

"Go get some popcorn Leo. Not blue, if you can."

Leo gave Piper a look like he was about to argue, but caught both his and Piper's looks.

Leo raised his hands and said "Alright, you could have just told me to get. I can take a hint."

Leo shook his head and muttered with no heat to his words "Must think I'm stupid or something."

Piper leaned her head on his shoulder and Jason grinned to himself.

"You know Grace, Leo has lots of pictures of me in this ridiculous costume, right?" she asked, in an innocent voice.

"Yeah…" he ventured, not sure where this discussion was heading.

"And I said you would be in trouble if I was caught on camera." She snuggled closer and Jason wrapped a blanket around her shoulders, his arm pulling her closer.

"Yeah?"

Piper smiled and said "You know I can charmspeak right? Maybe Leo will let me borrow his camera sometime this week."

Even with the threat of utter humiliation at the hands of his magical girlfriend, Jason still loved tonight.

This Halloween was one of the best one's he had ever had.

But under no circumstances was he ever, _ever, _letting Leo pick out his costume _ever _again.

**And that's a wrap people. You may have noticed some OOCness with some characters and my OCs were kind of jerks, but it fit the stories. And I kind of like writing jerks getting their butts kicked by demigods. So, apologize for OOCness and such. **

**Also, I may not focus on Annabeth and Percy all that much because this is a JASON POV! I don't think he's that interested in watching Percabeth and gushing about every cute thing they do. No, that is not Jason's job. That is what we fans do, not Jason Grace. Plus, it might also be kind of creepy if he ****_did _****do that. **

**Getting rid of weird mental images now. 20% loaded. **

**So, no complaints about that. Grammar, spelling, anything like that is free game. I would actually love it if you corrected me. Just don't go overboard and nitpick to the point of destroying my confidence and ruining this fanfic for me. I kind of liked writing this, it was fun. **

**Okay? Okay. **


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